Category Archives: Fake News

Told in curious and simple prose, this novel is wildly reminiscent of a contemplative Douglas Adams pondering over an Orwellian present

A wonderfully honest read of recent time would be Amitava Kumars A Time Outside This Time (Aleph; Rs 699). Told in curious and simple prose, this novel is wildly reminiscent of a contemplative Douglas Adams pondering over an Orwellian present. Kumar is a Guggenheim fellow and a professor of English at Vassar College with books like Writing Badly is Easy and The Lovers in his oeuvre.

In this book, Satya is an Indian writer based in New York, enjoying a residency for artists in Italy. His wife Vani and daughter Piya await his return home as he narrates and is mesmerised by the web of fake news building around the world at break-neck speed. Caught between Trump and Modi, his resilient pursuit of social norms as defined in a post-truth world results in him building a plotline for his book. As the thin line between truth and lie starts to vanish, it soon becomes barely discernible from fiction.

Lamenting about the state of affairs and the media narratives which could well be fictional stories, there is incredulity accompanying his keen observations. He draws parallels between the world outside and the novel that begins to gently take shape in his mind. Commenting on the state of affairs, Satya wonders if the leaders of the country just like him cannot imagine a time outside this time. He writes:

The most popular stories on Snopes.com:

Did Eleven U.S. Marines Give Their Lives This Week? [False]

Did a Principal Ban Candy Canes Because They Are Shaped Like Js for Jesus? [True]

Did a Brain-Eating Amoeba Kill a Woman Who Rinsed Her Sinuses with Tap Water? [True]

Did Miley Cyrus Tell Fans to Worship Satan if They Want to Be Rich and Famous? [False]

Did Jon Voight Urge Americans to Fight for Donald Trump? [True]

The list is fairly ridiculous. It reveals the low stakes in the battle for truth in our culture.

Kumars novel comes with a wry sense of humour and readers are compelled to start wondering with Satya and question their own memory-making process. Satya decides that to make sense of the copious notes he had taken since Trump came to presidency to his days at the residency with the novel corona virus beginning to rear its fangs around the world he must go far back into his childhood. With a matter-of-fact style of storytelling, Satya remembers his childhood fraught with communal violence and thinks I was trying to remember the earliest lies I was told about others and the stories I had invented about myself. In a seamless manner, Kumars own story becomes Satyas story as he recounts his time as an author in New York.

There are little stories that make up this gigantically ambitious novel spanning across various parts of the world. There is Khalid Farooq whose tale moved Satya to provide financial help that was never returned. Instead what emerged were a few lies. There is an English professor Ghosh in Siliguri who thought of Hamlet on the death of a peasant leader. There is Vishal Kishore, a police officer in Calcutta who paves the way for the authors research into someone named Avinash. And there is Gautam Sikdar, a popular TV journalist who was once married to his wife Vani. Through these various little stories, Kumar throws light upon different aspects of life and the presence of lies in those very spheres.

There is anecdotal history, the bizarre nature of data and dubious scientific research strewn across the book that has an undulating narrative. However, if for a second you feel yourself slipping away, you remember that there is some part of a loose thread that remains to be tied and you carry on. Pick up a copy to feel seen as familiar events around the world build into a narrative that is unique and personal to you. The gorgeous yellow cover, designed by the author himself, will lead you right to it.

Photo: Imrul Islam

See the rest here:

'A Time Outside This Time' is a searing reflection of a world riddled by fake news - Telegraph India

What is "Fake News" exactly? It depends on who's using the term. Unfortunately, many people will use it to try to stifle any news that is unfavorable to them. However, for the purposes of this guide, Fake Newsdescribes intentionallyfabricated stories, but can also be applied to a broader continuum of news.Although many news outlets will exhibit some form of explicit or implicit bias at one time or another, what matters is whether they are deliberately trying to counter whatever biases they might have by providing the full story with its many perspectives.Assessing the quality of news content is crucial to understanding whether what you are viewing is true or not.It is up to each of us to critically evaluate the information we consume as well as share through social media.

Here is a framework of different types of news stories we encounter online:

Fake News: Sources that intentionally fabricate information, disseminate deceptive content, or grossly distort actual news reports, usually to advance a specific political perspective.Satire: Sources that use humor, irony, exaggeration, ridicule, and false information as a way ofcommenting on current events.Bias: Sources that come from a particular point of view and may rely on propaganda, decontextualized information, and opinions distorted as facts.Rumor Mill: Sources that traffic in rumors, gossip, innuendo, and unverified claims. Also, sources that value reporting the story first, rather than accuracy.State News: Sources in repressive states operating under government sanction.Junk Science: Sources that promote pseudoscience, naturalistic fallacies, and other scientifically dubious claims.Clickbait: A strategically placed hyperlink designed to drive traffic to sources that may provide generally credible content, but use exaggerated, misleading, or questionable headlines, social media descriptions, and/or images.

Here is the original post:

What is Fake News? - "Fake" News - Library Guides at Penn ...

#FightFakeNews

Developments in the last few years have placed journalism under fire. A range of factors are transforming the communications landscape, raising questions about the quality, impact and credibility of journalism. At the same time, orchestrated campaigns are spreading untruths - disinformation, mal-information and misinformation - that are often unwittingly shared on social media:

Written by experts in the fight against disinformation, this handbook explores the very nature of journalism with modules on why trust matters; thinking critically about how digital technology and social platforms are conduits of the information disorder; fighting back against disinformation and misinformation through media and information literacy; fact-checking 101; social media verification and combatting online abuse.

This model curriculum is an essential addition to teaching syllabi for all journalism educators, as well as practicing journalists and editors who are interested in information, how we share it and how we use it. It is mission critical that those who practice journalism understand and report on the new threats to trusted information.Political parties, health professionals, business people, scientists, election monitors and others will also find it useful.

For background information on this publication, click hereor read about the launch here

We also highly recommend watching this Facebook Live interview, which can also be used as a teaching tool.

You can find out more on F*ke News by watching Mr George Papagiannis Chief, Media Services at UNESCO and co-author, Julie Posetti, discuss F*ke News and its impact on journalism and democracy on Facebook live.

To explore the history of the information disorder, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) has published alearning module, A Short Guide to the History of 'Fake News'and Disinformation, which journalism educators may find as a helpful addition to the UNESCO handbook. Click here for more information.

Discoverarticles on Fake News published intheUNESCO CourierJuly-September-2017 issue:

To find out more about the IPDC and its projects, click here.

Continued here:

Journalism, 'Fake News' and Disinformation: A Handbook for ...

CHICAGO: Greentarget, a PR agency which focuses on professional service firms, surveyed over 100 journalists and found 93% believe fake news negatively affects journalism. Additionally, they dont have confidence in the government, Big Tech or even their own industry efforts to provide a solution.

Greentarget defined fake news as false information spread unwittingly (misinformation) or intentionally (disinformation).

The results involve the PR industry, which every day works to communicate information through media outlets. Both professions recognize the importance of maintaining credible journalism and fighting fake news for an informed, participatory democracy to function.

In the poll, 84% of the respondents felt that the term fake news is contributing to the delegitimization and distrust of traditional news sources. The study pointed to views that expressed with the Trump administration the term fake news became more nebulous and weaponized misuse problematically morphed the words to mean information that the person/subject doesnt like or believe.

However, with the traditional usage of fake news as defined by Greentarget in the survey, only 6% felt Big Techs efforts in monitoring content had a significant impact. The journalists expressed caution with government action, with less than 50% endorsing the need to reform Section 230 of the U.S. Communications Decency Act. The law, in general, grants website platforms immunity with respect to third-party content.

An increasing majority, 93% of journalistsup from 85% in last years poll, indicated that they have an ethical responsibility to vet fake news. This means fact checking and identifying misleading information.

But only 14% of journalists felt their own work significantly helped to combat fake news, and only 9% believed media literacy efforts had a substantial impact.

PR and communications professionals come into play on this front. Despite the surveyed journalists discouraging outlook on media literacy, Greentargets report cited National Academy of Sciences research, which found a 26.5% improvement in differentiating mainstream from false news headlines, resulting from media literacy education.

In a statement, Greentargets VP of media relations, Lisa Seidenberg, underscored support for journalists, acknowledging their value in a free society. She further expressed hope that journalists and the public would support media literacy programs.

PR professionals representing legitimate news organizations have a role in buttressing the reputation of journalism. They can support media literacy programs, and with journalists as part of their everyday actions maintain an ethical professional commitment to communicating accuracy and truth.

The rest is here:

Study: Journalists reveal sobering views on the state of fake news - PR Week

You can make sure you aren't seeing fake news, edited photos or deepfakes with this software. Here's how to install and use it.

Image: Lightspring/Shutterstock

The evolution of social media and the internet have allowed people and companies to share a lot of content, some of which might be used to spread fake news or misinformation. One of the keys to investigate this material is to try to find evidence of the same image/video being used before, often in an unrelated context. This article shows how to easily check for it by using the InVID Verification Plugin.

While the plugin is originally designed to help journalists verify content on social media and improve fact-checking and debunking capabilities for its users, it can also be used by anyone with an interest in checking images or videos. More and more companies have social media experts on staff who need tools to spot fake news and detect fake media that might target them. The tool might also be used to raise awareness or train people to increase their skills in detecting media tampering.

The InVID Verification Plugin, or Toolkit, is provided by the InVID and WeVerify European projects. Both projects have received funding from theHorizon 2020: EU Programme for Research and Innovation.

The features of this plugin are:

This tool works as a Chrome or Firefox browser plugin. From the home page of the InVID Verification Plugin, select Chrome or Firefox. We chose Firefox for this tutorial (Figure A), but the install steps are the same for Chrome.

Figure A

Download the plugin.

Once the plugin is downloaded, go to the folder where it was saved and extract the .zip file (Figure B), then unzip it.

Figure B

The plugin is extracted from the .zip file.

Double-click on the .xpi file to launch it in Firefox or Chrome. Depending on what your default browser is, you might need to right-click on the .xpi file and select Open With, then choose Firefox or Chrome.

As it opens in the browser, select Add to allow the permissions to install the plugin (Figure C).

Figure C

Allow the installation and permissions for the InVID Verification Plugin in Firefox.

Tick the box for allowing the plugin to run in Private Windows if you like, then click Okay (Figure D).

Figure D

Select the permissions to run in Private Windows or not.

The plugin is now installed and should show its logo in the plugins bar.

The plugin can be accessed and used via two methods.

A click on the plugin icon in the browser opens its menu (Figure E).

Figure E

Access the InVID toolkit menu from its icon in Firefox.

The other option is to right-click on a picture or video from the web page (Figure F).

Figure F

You can access the plugin by right-clicking on an image on a web page.

Once right-clicked, the menu shows different options from the plugin, like opening the magnifier or doing reverse searches on images in search engines.

By clicking on the plugin icon in the browser and selecting Open InVID, the main menu of the plugin appears (Figure G).

Figure G

Access the plugin's main menu.

On the upper part of the menu, several options are available:

The image magnifier allows an investigator to zoom in on a picture to see more details about it (Figure H).

Figure H

This is how the image magnifier looks when in use.

This option shows the metadata of a picture (Figure I).

Figure I

The metadata from one picture.

Video Rights shows the usage rights for videos from YouTube, Twitter or Facebook (Figure J).

Figure J

The video rights for one video on YouTube.

This feature allows users to launch advanced queries on Twitter (Figure K).

Figure K

The Twitter advanced search panel.

This feature runs reverse searches on the thumbnails of a YouTube video. The searches can be run on several search engines (Figure L).

Figure L

The YouTube thumbnails reverse search.

This option fragments the video into multiple images (Figure M) and allows the investigator to run a reverse image search on any of it. This is a useful feature to detect if parts of a video have been reused from another source.

Figure M

The software splits a video into multiple images so you can run a reverse image search on any of it.

This tab provides statistics about videos from YouTube, Twitter or Facebook (Figure N).

Figure N

Video statistics from a YouTube video.

This tab provides eight different filters to help detect digital image tampering (Figure O).

Figure O

Forensic analysis on an image.

InVID can launch reverse image searches on several search engines: Google, Yandex, Bing, TinEye, Baidu and Reddit.

The easiest way to launch this is to right-click on a picture and select the desired search engine or select all. The plugin opens one tab per search engine in the browser to show the results (Figure P).

Figure P

The results of a reverse image search on the TinEye search engine.

The InVID Toolkit allows any investigator or social media expert to verify contents by analyzing images and videos on several different platforms or even on local files. Being a plugin for Firefox or Chrome, it can be used on several different operating systems, like Windows, Linux or Mac.

Our editors highlight the TechRepublic articles, downloads, and galleries that you cannot miss to stay current on the latest IT news, innovations, and tips. Fridays

Read the original post:

How to install and use InVID, a plugin to debunk fake news and verify videos and images - TechRepublic

Looks like Nicki Minaj is going through a lot these past days! Is the pop star telling people not to get vaccinated? Not only that, but is she really trying to save her rapist husband? Well, to know it all, stay tuned with us!

Currently, Nicki Minaj is high on the news! But instead of stardom, she is receiving heavy hatred from her fans! A few days back, one of her tweet went viral, and she damn regrets posting it on social media! The tweet was related to the COVID-19 vaccine! The pop star claimed that one of her cousin who lives in Trinidad has refused to take the covid vaccine shot. Well, it looks like Nickis cousins friend had a serious side effect after the vaccine shot which has scared him from taking the vaccine! The singer obviously had to face a lot of hatred due to this tweet! Most people said she is just trying to gain attention and moreover, is spreading fake news among the people out there!

Her opinion on the vaccine is surely an anti-vax statement. But does she really support anti-vax? Well, in one of Nickis recent interviews with Andy Cohen, she was seen to maintain all the COVID-19 protocols! This surely kind of proves she is not supporting anti-vax! The inner information is an assured statement as this came exclusively from the very famous Andy Cohen!

Well, for some months, we all are quite aware that Nicki Minajs husband has been charged for sexually assaulting Jennifer Hough. This is incident goes back to 1995. But recently, Jennifer has filed a case against Kenneth Petty. Nicki and her husband both have failed to respond to the lawsuit! Not only that but Kenneth has clearly denied the charge put on him! When the incident took place, both the culprit and the victim were 16 years old! If you dont know it, then let me tell you, Petty has also served a period of 4 years in jail for his deed.

The shocking news is Petty now claims that the rape never had occurred! In fact the sex between him and Jennifer was more consensual! He has moreover, said that 26 years back, he was a young boy, and out of fear, he took the rape allegation on himself! That time he was said that it doesnt accept the rape claim, then he time be in jail for a 20 year long sentence period!

But Jennifer is clearly stating something opposite to Pettys story! She has cleared said that she was raped by him at knifepoint. All these years, she has been traumatized and is still in constant fear to face the world out there. Well, already $15 million charge by Jennifer has been dismissed by the court. But still, $20 million lawsuit stands! If we come to Nicki, then she has stated that they have by mistake not responded to the lawsuit! So is the sensational pop star really saving her husband?

Go here to read the rest:

Nicki Minaj Spreading Anti Vax FAKE NEWS and Covid-19 Controversies to Save Her RAPIST Husband From Scrutiny - Dominique Clare

Although a wide variety of information and news are available at our fingertips these days, it also makes us susceptible to believe in fake content. And business tycoon Anand Mahindra has tried to deal with all such stress with a dash of humour, and the internet is loving.

As the internet is full of quotes post, The Mahindra Group Chairman debunked one such quote shared on Instagram with his photo and name. An average Indian man spends his day following women on social media, putting his hopes into sports teams and leaving his dreams in the hand of a politician that doesnt care, the post read falsely attributing it to him.

Taking to Twitter, the industrialist not only threatened to take legal action for the fabricated quot but also promised to deal with such situation, bringing his A-game by sharing relatable memes. He shared two one featuring himself and other with Arshad Warsi.

This is the second time this week, fake information about him have been circulating online. On Friday, Mahindra had rubbished a report which talked about how his new investment made him richer this year and that hes sharing his secret with everybody. He expressed shock regarding a piece of fake news about his investment in cryptocurrency.

As he dealt with such fake news, people appreciated his sense of humour, with many joining him in the meme-fest to keep his sprits up while thanking him to clarifying.

However, this is not the first time this has been done. Earlier in September Ratan Tata too voiced his concern on seeing a falsely attributed quote doing rounds on social media, clarifying it wasnt said by him.

Follow this link:

I never said that: Anand Mahindra debunks fake quote with memes, netizens love it - The Indian Express

On Monday 22 November at 3pm Maverick Citizen editor, Mark Heywood will be participating in a discussion hosted by the Pharmaceutical Accountability Foundation titled The Power of Law: How can NGOs Promote Access to (Covid-19 or other essential) medicines through Legal Procedures? Lessons Learned from Past Cases.

You can register to join the event here.

On Tuesday 23 November at 9am the Peoples Vaccine Alliance is hosting a global rally against the World Trade Organization (WTO) titled Dont Trade with our lives, the aim of which is to demand that the WTO pass the critical Trips waiver on life-saving vaccines and medicines. The organisation seeks to amplify the voices of communities in Colombia, Palestine, South Africa, India, Thailand, Honduras, Kenya, Pakistan, Uganda, Mexico, and elsewhere who have been most affected by the inequalities that have allegedly been exacerbated by the WTO. Legal experts, human rights activists, and public health advocates also will lay out various advocacy actions undertaken by several international coalitions.

You can join the event here.

At 10am, Health activists from Cancer Alliance, the Treatment Action Campaign and SECTION27 will march to Premier David Makhuras offices in Johannesburg on 23 November 2021 to demand that he urgently establish a task team to address the cancer crisis in Gauteng, where waiting lists for time-sensitive and potentially life-saving cancer treatment extend for years.

On Wednesday 24 November at 1pm, Civic and Open data organisation Code for Africa, will be hosting a discussion titled Fighting Fake news: Combating mis / disinformation in Africa. You can register to attend the event here.

At 1.30pm the World Health Organization is launching a report titled The politics of a WHO pandemic treaty in a disenchanted world. The report addresses the need for new approaches to the challenge of a pandemic future, in the wake of the harsh but real lessons that Covid-19 continues to administer. You can register to attend the report launch here.

At 2pm the The Applied Constitutional Study Laboratory (ACSL) at the Dullah Omar Institute will be hosting a discussion on Next Generation Constitutionalism titled Climate Change Litigation global trends. The discussant will be Joana Setzer from the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, who is one of the authors of the Climate Change Litigation report, about the strategic nature of this litigation, current trends in litigation and future developments to watch, the types of legal challenges that are being brought and where they are being fought. You can register to attend the discussion here.

Lastly on Wednesday at 5.30pm, the Soul City Institute for Social Justice will be holding a 16 Days of Activism event titled Kgalemelang From Awareness to Accountability. The event is to move people from just being aware of gender-based violence towards personal accountability and the justice system, civil society and general society. For more information on how to participate contact [emailprotected]. DM/MC

Related Articles

See original here:

Civil Society Watch 22 November 28 November: The availability of essential medication in SA, tackling the WTO on Trips waiver and fighting fake news...

Image Source : FILE IMAGE

Aamir Khan to tie the knot third time?

Months after Aamir Khan announced his divorce from Kiran Rao, rumours have started doing the round that the Bollywood actor is gearing up to tie the knot, again. A few days back, there were reports doing the rounds on social media that Aamir will announce his wedding after the release of his upcoming film Laal Singh Chadha, co-starring Kareena Kapoor. However, according to the latest reports, Aamir's third wedding rumours are fake.

According to India Today, there is no truth to the news of Aamirs third marriage and all such reports are fake. It further clarified that he doesnt want to interfere with the Laal Singh Chadha's limelight and nothing like this is happening.Laal Singh Chaddha: Aamir Khan-Kareena Kapoor starrer release pushed to April 2022

After Aamir and Kiran's divorce, people had come up with the theory that the actors alleged relationship with his Dangal co-star Fatima Sana Shaikh was the reason for their separation. Addressing their dating rumours, she had said in an interview, "A bunch of strangers, whom I've never met, are writing things about me. They don't even know if there's any truth to it. People reading it assume that I'm 'not a good person'. You feel like telling that person, 'Ask me, I'll give you an answer. It disturbs me because I don't want people to assume wrong things."

Meanwhile, Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao announced divorce after 15 years of their marriage. The duo has son Azad together. In a joint statement, Aamir and Kiran described their 15 years of togetherness as 'beautiful' during which they shared a 'lifetime of experiences, joy and laughter'. The actor added that although their relationship changed, but they are still with each other.Aamir Khan-Kiran Rao address fans after divorce announcement

Aamir Khan and Kiran tied the knot in 2015. Kiran was an assistant director to Ashutosh Gowariker on the set of Lagaan. They welcomed their son Azad Rao Khan in 2011 via surrogacy.

Read the rest here:

Aamir Khan to tie the knot third time? 'FAKE' news going viral - India TV

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has slammed the Times of India for publishing fake news that claimed that the Assam government is ready to hold talks with Ulfa (I) terrorists and discuss their core issues including demand for sovereignty.

Sarma shared the photograph of a news report published in the Times of India, saying that he is aghast to see such claims attributed to him.

No Chief Minister can discuss sovereignty of India with anyone. This is non-negotiable. We all Indians, irrespective of our positions, are here to protect the sovereignty of India. I strongly refute the news report. This is FALSE, Sarma tweeted on Thursday, 18 November.

The report in Times of India claimed that Himanta Biswa Sarma has stated on Wednesday that Ulfa (I)s core demand of sovereignty has to be addressed along the way.

The report further went on to add that since the inception of undivided Ulfa in 1979, no CM had ever come close to acknowledging the core demand of sovereignty for a dialogue. It added that former PM Manmohan Singh had once stated that the centre was ready to discuss core issues.

The report further stated that soon after taking office, CM Sarma had stated that dealing with Ulfa needed a fresh approach and had added that an equilibrium has to be created between the perimeters of the constitution and the outfits demand for sovereignty and their core issues will have to be discussed at some point of time.

In September, Sarma had stated that he had spoken with HM Amit Shah and had obtained permission to speak to Ulfa chief Paresh Barua to initiate a peace dialogue. He had clarified further that it was at initial levels and no conclusions should be drawn from it. He had also added that the Home Ministry has told him that any communication with Ulfa has to be a structured dialogue.

It is notable here that the peace process with several insurgent groups has been negotiated successfully in Assam in the last couple of years. In January 2020, Home Minister Amit Shah had secured a peace agreement with Bodo groups. Subsequently, over 1600 cadres from all four factions of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) had surrendered their weapons and were welcomed back into the society in a historic event.

In September this year, six insurgent groups had signed the Karbi Peace Accord with the centre, bringing an end to decades of violence and unrest in the Karbi-Anglong region.

Read more:

Assam CM Sarma slams Times Of Indias fake news regarding talks with Ulfa, says India sovereignty is non-negotiable - OpIndia